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Paige Bueckers Makes Unexpected Gesture as Wings Visit Mercury

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jeremy Beren | Last updated Jun 11, 2025 6:17 PM ET

There is a common thread that ties Paige Bueckers to Diana Taurasi: at different times in history, they were star players under Geno Auriemma at Connecticut, both guards helping the Huskies win national championships.

Taurasi, taken first overall by the Phoenix Mercury in 2004, went on to win three WNBA championships and become the league's all-time leading scorer before her retirement earlier this year. Bueckers, taken first overall by the Dallas Wings two months ago, is hoping to follow in her footsteps.

Bueckers on Wednesday is returning to the Dallas lineup after a four-game absence, as the 1-9 Wings visit the 6-4 Mercury. To mark the occasion, Bueckers came up with a unique tribute: lowering her basketball shorts to make them appear longer in homage to Taurasi, who was one of many WNBA players to don the look during her 2000s heyday.

"I had my shorts like this in ode to DT today. The long short wave."

Paige Bueckers is showing love to a fellow UConn legend ahead of her first game in Phoenix.

(via @TheCoachMelissa) pic.twitter.com/b1mBuPFgWr
— WNBA on ION (@IONWNBA) June 11, 2025

"I had my shorts like this in ode to DT today," Bueckers told reporters on Tuesday while teammate DiJonai Carrington scoffed. "The long short wave."

Bueckers was last in Phoenix during the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game, when Taurasi represented Team USA in its "tune-up" for the Summer Olympics in Paris. Bueckers returns to the desert to find a new-look Mercury team that has a 5-2 record at home -- and a chance for her first "signature performance" as a WNBA player, in an arena where one of her basketball idols shined for 20 years.

"That's the house that DT built," Bueckers said of playing at PHX Arena. "She's one of the GOATs of the game, I've been looking up to her since I was young. It'll be crazy to be in that environment."

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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